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Monday, 4 October 2010

Do you remember when you saved my life?

Every day we meet people, talk to people, interact with people. It may be a passing comment to the barrista who makes our morning coffee. Or a casual hello to a coworker. It could be a comment left on a blog, or an e-mail sent to a friend. We seldom pay attention to most of those simple interactions, as we rush on with our busy days.

But Debbie, at The Mosaic Magpie, reminded me today that those tiny gestures could mean everything to someone. The same idea was beautifully portrayed in an episode of the TV show "7th Heaven," where Reverend Camden goes to heaven, and finds out about all the people's lives he has changed with small gestures, many of which he did not even remember. Perhaps you have received one of those life-changing or even life-saving moments. A word spoken when you were down, a gift when you were desperate, a gesture when you had given up hope.

I received at least one of those. It was early December, and I was living from dollar to dollar. My daughter's 6th birthday was coming up, and I knew I could not afford to buy her anything. Nothing. I was heartbroken, but I said nothing to anyone.

Then I opened the door a week before her birthday, and there was a box on the doorstep, from someone at her elementary school (that was the only information on the label.) It was full of pretty, just-the-right-size, new winter clothes and some new toys for her...gifts for a birthday that would have had none. I never knew who arranged for it, who sent it. No one would claim it. But that gesture saved us, maybe in more ways than I know. Probably in more ways than the giver ever knew. It gave me hope, the hope that carried me through to a better life I have now.

Before you watch this clip of one of those life-changing gestures, stop and think for moment. Someday, when it's time for an accounting of your life, will you be greeted with someone who says "Do you remember when you saved my life?"

Wendy, I have another post you might find inspiring, about people who have virtually nothing, and yet are willing to give it all...http://radioactivecats.blogspot.com/2010/08/angels-on-streetfor-pink-saturday.html